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NC State Basketball

Kevin Keatts: "We Played A Good Team"

November 14, 2019
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NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media after the Wolfpack's 86-77 home win over FIU.

NOTE: Click the video abvoe to watch the perss conference.


Opening Statement...
We played a good team, and I knew we were going to play a good team. I watched those guys scrimmage Miami and also watched the Mississippi State game, and I came into this game a little concerned.

They remind me a lot of my Wilmington team where they’re smaller, but they can press and they can get after you. We talked about trying to have low turnovers and fortunately we did. We had twelve. I thought we got a little careless at the end, but they put a lot of pressure on us; they got under us, they sped us up a little bit. I thought they did some good things.

We got going late in the second half. I was able to find a combination that worked, and the combination I’m looking for is one that will give me something on the defensive end. I thought the guys played well.

I asked our guys to do a better job of offensive rebounding. That’s been one of the things since I’ve been here, we’ve been a great offensive rebounding team. We were able to get 18 tonight. When you look at it, I thought Manny (Bates) and D.J. (Funderburk) both did a tremendous job. I think they had 11 between the two of them.

Some guys were a little slow. Markell (Johnson)’s not Markell (Johnson) right now, but I thought he did a good job of finishing the game.

But I’m excited to get the win, especially when you look around college basketball. I don’t know that there is a dominating team and on any given night you can play and anybody can beat you. So I'm happy to get out here with a great win and we’ll move on to the next one and get better. 

On having D.J. Funderburk back...
Yeah, absolutely. Getting him back takes a little bit of pressure off Manny (Bates). You know, whether we want to realize it or not Manny (Bates) is a freshman. Even though he was here, he didn’t play last year. He was a redshirt freshman.

And D.J. (Funderburk) is a really good offensive rebounder, so he takes a lot of pressure off of Manny (Bates) where there’s so much of a learning curve right now. I brought him back because he’s done everything that I’ve asked. You know I’ve said this all along, if you want to be a part of NC State basketball then you have to do all the right stuff or I’m going to hold you accountable for it.

D.J. (Funderburk)’s checked all the boxes that I’ve asked and we’re excited that he’s back.

On having everyone back...
I don’t know that it’s realizing that the guys are back, but we haven’t - like in practice I haven’t been able to put everybody on the floor together because of injuries,because of DJ when we did allow him to come back to practice he’s been on the scout team. I’ve never moved him over where he was in a position to play, and so we haven’t had everybody that would be on the floor.

I think we’ve had so many combinations in the last couple of games that haven’t had a chance to work out together. That being said, we’ve got to get some time where all of these will be able to play. For the first time I am looking around in practice and we have 10 good players that can get after each other opposed to guys injured.

Two weeks ago I probably had the best eight-man practice schedule you could have and I am tired of that, so it’s good to have five on five. 

On how D.J. Funderburk positively impacts rebounding...
D.J. (Funderburk) is a good player and that’s one of his strong suits. He’s a really good rebounder, but that being said I’ve challenged Manny Bates because I don’t think he’s rebounded the ball as well. He went out there and got five offensive rebounds, but certainly D.J. (Funderburk) helps. He helps our rebounding tremendously.”

On wanting to see consistency from Pat Andree...
Yeah I do, and he’s not meaning to miss them, he’s just missing them [in the second half]. I thought he made a great move on the right wing then pump-faked and shot it, and then he had two good shots on the left wing that just didn’t go down.

He’s as good of a shooter as I’ve ever seen, especially at his height. I think once Pat (Andree) learns to play the way we’re playing, where we play up and down and high-tempo, I think he’ll make those shots in the second half.

I am not saying that he’s wearing down, but they’re not going in the second half right now. 

On if he had a conversation with D.J. Funderburk after the Georgia Tech game...
No, I haven’t spoken to D.J. (Funderburk) since I suspended him other than getting help side, block a shot. My initial conversation with him was, ‘If you want to be a part of this program here’s what you have to do,’ and I haven’t talked to him about it any more but I have checked with every coach or academic person or anybody on campus that I could talk to to make sure that he was doing everything he was supposed to do.

Everybody checked the boxes off and I was happy so, it was a mutual - I didn’t even tell him he was playing today. He knew I was going to dress him out but I didn’t know - I honestly went into the game and didn’t even know if I was going to play him.

One of the reasons I decided to play him was because Danny Dixon’s foot is bothering him. If Danny (Dixon) was a little more healthier, D.J. (Funderburk) might not have played this game.

 
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